Cal Basketball Coach Dick Kuchen Resigns

Cal basketball Coach Dick Kuchen announced Monday that he has resigned to “pursue other opportunities.”

Kuchen’s departure, which had been rumored for weeks, is effective immediately, he said in a statement released by the school.

The resignation came after a series of meetings over the past week with Dave Maggard, Cal’s athletic director.

Kuchen had only one winning season out of seven at Cal, posting a record of 80-112. This past season, the Golden Bears had a 13-15 overall record and a 5-13 mark in the Pacific 10 conference, tying for eighth place.

Kuchen came to Cal after a three-year stint as assistant coach at Notre Dame under Digger Phelps.

Maggard indicated he had no candidates to replace Kuchen, but would immediately begin a search.

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle has met with Raider managing partner Al Davis to discuss an out-of-court settlement of the $49 million in damages awarded the team and the Memorial Coliseum in their 1983 antitrust suit against the league, a spokesman for Rozelle confirmed Monday.

“They did meet, but that’s all there is to say,” Jim Heffernan, the league’s director of public relations, said from New York.

Davis addressed other NFL owners last week at the league meetings in Phoenix, Ariz., on ways of settling the damage phase, which could cost the other 27 owners as much as $80 million when 2 1/2 years of interest and legal fees are included.

The New York Times Sunday quoted unnamed NFL sources as saying Davis and the Coliseum would settle for $60 million.

The baseball owners told the Players Assn. that major league teams lost nearly $83 million in 1983 before income taxes and lost more than $104 million in 1982.

In a 2 1/2 hour negotiating session in Tampa Bay at which they presented a general outline of their operating losses for the past nine years, the owners said that a large portion of those expenses came from players’ salaries.

The players’ group requested additional information.

Center Pat Ewing of Georgetown, guard Chris Mullin of St. John’s and forward Wayman Tisdale of Oklahoma are repeat selections on the first-team All-American team picked by the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches.

Duke guard Johnny Dawkins and Memphis State forward Keith Lee round out the first team. Named to the second team were Jon Koncak of SMU, Kenny Walker of Kentucky, Karl Malone of Louisiana Tech, Mark Price of Georgia Tech and Sam Vincent of Michigan State.

Sonny Smith, who had announced plans to resign as Auburn’s basketball coach, may remain on the job now that the team is in the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Auburn will play North Carolina in Birmingham, Ala., Friday night in the Southeast Regional. “I think Sonny is aware that he’s in a position to decide his own future,” Auburn Athletic Director Pat Dye said. “We’re still looking for a coach. Sonny made a decision that he was going to leave, and he has to tell us if he has changed his mind.”

Starting times for the West Regional games in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament have been changed, with UCLA playing Georgia Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion at 6, and USC meeting Long Beach State at 8:30. The winners will play Saturday at 3 p.m. for the right to advance to the Final Four.